04.04.25 – Photos by Chris Dummer / Review by Danielle Linneweber

There’s no better way to end a long week than with Franz Ferdinand and a giant dance party. Thankfully, their tour came through town on a Friday night at The Fillmore on April 4. 

Telescreens blasted onto the stage with their ferocious guitar-driven rock to start things off. Most openers as of late have put me to sleep. Telescreens, however, were like a shot of Red Bull straight to my veins after a tiring week. They came out with a determination to engage with and win over the crowd. We were at their mercy and, in true Minnesota style, we eventually gave in after some coercing.

The band had never been to Minneapolis, but lead singer Jackson Hamm said he’d heard we’re a wild bunch. Three songs in, it appeared we weren’t living up to the hype. Hamm suddenly became a preacher at a church revival. He stood at the front of the stage gesturing and commanding the crowd to get loud. “What’s the matter?” he screeched without a microphone. “You guys don’t like rock and roll? We scream together. We sweat together. And we move together. That’s called rock and roll.” 

In our defense, I think everyone was just shocked at how good they were and the second beer of the night hadn’t quite kicked in yet. To say Hamm is intense is an understatement. He barely cracked a smile during the set and kind of scared me, but I also found him equally amusing and endearing. He gets high marks for not letting a reserved Minnesota crowd get away with ignoring the opener on a Friday night.  

Telescreens blew through seven songs, including some off their album, 7, that came out last year. Hailing from New York, it’s clear that The Strokes are a big influence in songs like “Lost” and “Phone Booth.” Hamm also growled his way through a dark and pulsating “Johnny” that reminded me of Johnny Cash’s “A Boy Named Sue.” Oliver Graf spent the entire set absolutely annihilating the drums while keyboardist Josiah Valerius and bassist/keyboardist Austin Brenner casually held down the fort on opposite sides of the stage.

For the penultimate song of the set, Hamm demanded that we sing along and then asked if we had the courage to sing a song we don’t know and not give a f*ck about what the person next to us thinks. He once again forced shy Minnesotans out of their comfort zones. Telescreens offered up straight-ahead, guitar-driven rock that was deliciously fierce and refreshing. It was a raucous set that left me excited to see what the future holds for them.

That fiery warmup helped prepare us for the frenzied energy that lead singer Alex Krapanos and his bandmates brought to the stage with Franz Ferdinand. Kapranos sauntered on stage in his black suit, red socks, patent leather loafers and a green shirt with a retro butterfly collar. His hair was slicked back and only got slightly mussed up by the end of the show despite ninety minutes of jumping, twirling and strutting.  

I hope Hamm has been taking notes during this tour because he has the chance to learn from the ultimate showman in Kapranos. He may be the lead singer of a rock band, but Kapranos has the mannerisms of a dramatic Broadway actor. You can’t take your eyes off him as he slithers and slinks his way across the stage. He exudes charisma and swagger through his facial expressions and flamboyant hand gestures as he prowls from one end of the stage to the other pointing and posing for the crowd. It’s a delight to behold, and the sold out crowd was ready to let Kapranos and his ringmaster personae lead the way to the dance floor on a Friday night.

The Glasgow, Scotland, band led with “Bar Lonely” off their new album, The Human Fear. They played a whopping eight songs from that album off a twenty-song setlist. “Audacious,” “Hooked,” “Everydaydreamer,” and “Build It Up” were great new additions to a setlist full of the band’s signature dark disco classics. Kapranos picked up a bouzouki (a long-necked Greek instrument similar to a mandolin – according to Google) for “Black Eyelashes,” a fun waltzy bop that felt like it was straight out of a “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” reception. 

Only two founding members of Franz Ferdinand remain, including Kapranos and bassist Bob Hardy. The original quartet has expanded to a five-piece lineup featuring keyboardist and guitarist Julian Corrie, drummer Audrey Tait and guitarist Dino Bardot. Corrie was especially fun to watch as he zoomed from the keyboard to the front of the stage to bust out riffs on his guitar before he flew back to the keyboard again. He was stoked and his energy was contagious.  

The athleticism that Kapranos displayed was also remarkable. He never stopped moving. He bunny-hopped across the stage. He did airborne jumping jacks. He caught air doing full-on tuck jumps with Corrie on the opening to “Take Me Out.” He twirled and spun and skipped with abandon. All of this was done with a smile on his face. You could tell he was having a blast and so was everyone else as a result. Hardy has had more than twenty years to adjust to Kapranos’ antics, so he ambled back and forth throughout the set, seemingly just trying to stay out of the way. 

Despite the heavy focus on the new album, Kapranos still managed to croon his way through plenty of  the classics, including “Michael,” “Walk Away,” “The Dark of the Matinee,” “No You Girls,” “Love Illumination,” “Lucid Dreams,” and “Do You Want To.” They rounded out the set with “Outsiders” off of 2005’s You Could Have It So Much Better. 

The band re-emerged for the encore with Kapranos sipping from a mug before he danced and bounced his way through the boppy “Stand on the Horizon.” “Audacious” fit nicely into the encore with its Queen-like chorus, followed by the rockabilly jaunt, “Evil And A Heathen.” They ended the show with the pulsating “This Fire,” literally bringing the crowd to their knees and back to their feet in a frenzy to end the song as red lights danced in the background like flames. It may have been a bit more difficult for some of us Gen Xers to get down on the floor compared to twenty years ago, but we had no excuse after watching the relentless physical effort that Kapranos put in for the entire show. 

It’s no wonder they’re still selling out venues after two decades. I’ve seen them countless times at large festivals and in small venues, and their energy has never wavered, thanks to Kapranos. They are electric in concert and no one has a tighter, more darkly danceable disco set than Franz Ferdinand.